新西兰英语 480 More snow

 　　We have had an unusual winter storm for the last two or three days but it is not finished yet. Bitterly cold weather from the Antarctic¹ has gradually spread over the whole country.

　　First the far south of the South Island – including the towns of Dunedin, Invercargill and Queenstown – had heavy snow falls on Sunday. By Monday, most of the east coast of the South Island was covered in snow. The cold weather spread up the North Island. Wellington often has snow on the hills around the city but this time it was downtown also. Taranaki also had snow and this is most unusual. Even more unusual were some snow showers in Auckland and in the far north of the North Island where the temperature reached only 8 degrees. Their winter temperature is usually around 15 degrees.

　　In places where the snow was heavy, roads, airports and schools were closed. People were told to stay at home if possible.

　　It is hard for farmers who have to feed hay² to their animals and make sure that sheep are not buried in the snow. Animals on New Zealand farms stay outside all winter. Most farmers in the South island say that lambing has not yet started. Lambs die easily if they are born during a bad storm.

　　Skiers are happy because a lot of snow fell on mountains. When the weather clears, there will be good snow for skiing.

　　Weather scientists say that weather like this happens only about once in every 50 years. Tomorrow there will be more snow for some places, and wind, rain, or sleet³ for others.

　　Vocabulary

　　?Heavy snow means a lot of snow

　　?Lambing is the process when lambs are born. Spring is the usual time for lambs. Note the silent “b”.

　　?Sleet is very cold rain mixed with snow.

　　?Clear weather means fine weather; here it is used as a verb to mean “when it becomes fine”.

　　Pronunciation

　　It is hard for some people to pronounce Queenstown (note that it starts with the sound of kw), usual / unusual / usually and gradually. Listen to the pronunciation and see if you can copy it.

　　Note that the “ie” in “skiers” and “scientists” are two separate sounds: ski /ers, sci/entists.

　　Try to put the first “k” sound in “Antarctic”. It is not “Antartic”.

　　“Temperature” usually has 3 syllables⁴ in speech: “temp /ra/ ture” but it is not wrong to give it 4 syllables.

　　“bury” is pronounced like “berry”.

　　Questions

　　?If a worker cannot get to work because of bad weather, should he or she lose a day’s pay?

　　?If airports are closed, should airlines pay accommodation for passengers who cannot get home? Should they give passengers a refund⁵ if the flight is cancelled?

1 Antarctic   

adj.南极(区)的；n.(the A-)南极洲，南极圈

参考例句：

• The Antarctic is a mountainous area.南极洲是一个多山的地区。
• It is well known that penguins live in the Antarctic.企鹅生活在南极洲是众所周知的。

2 hay   

n.(用作饲料或覆盖的)干草

参考例句：

• Cows feed on hay.奶牛以干草为生。
• They usually keep the hay in the barn.他们通常将干草存放在谷仓中。

3 sleet   

n.雨雪；v.下雨雪，下冰雹

参考例句：

• There was a great deal of sleet last night.昨夜雨夹雪下得真大。
• When winter comes,we get sleet and frost.冬天来到时我们这儿会有雨夹雪和霜冻。

4 syllables   

n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a word with two syllables 双音节单词
• 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓，它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

5 refund   

v.退还，偿还；n.归还，偿还额，退款

参考例句：

• They demand a refund on unsatisfactory goods.他们对不满意的货品要求退款。
• We'll refund your money if you aren't satisfied.你若不满意，我们愿意退款给你。